Emergency services across the UK remain on alert last night as the coldest February on record came to a close with a deluge of rain.

The grim weather continued as the tail end of a major continental storm flicked across southern and eastern counties. The UK missed the full force of the front, which last night was reported to have killed up to 50 people in France as it also battered France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. Three people were killed in Spain, two in Germany and one in Portugal. More than a million homes were left without power in France after 100mph winds struck.

British emergency teams, meanwhile, were focusing on rapidly rising rivers, after a woman drowned when her Land Rover was swept away by a normally innocuous stream at Hartoft on the North York moors on Friday.

Last night the Environment Agency closed the Thames Barrier for the second time in under 24 hours, as all England and Wales was put on flood watch. Other serious flood warnings were issued for parts of the Anglian and southern regions and the north-east, but a severe flood warning for parts of Cambridgeshire was removed.

An agency spokesman said current weather patterns show a substantial surge event in the North Sea, with large waves a possibility in exposed coastal areas today and tomorrow.

The Thames barrier was due to reopen early this morning after high tide.

The Meteorological Office also warned that the weather was likely to turn colder by the end of the week, after a sunny respite today and part of tomorrow.

The flood risk was exacerbated by February's exceptional rainfall. The month saw levels 20% higher than average, at 99mm in England and Wales and 72mm in Scotland. The soggiest spot was Okehampton in Devon, which reached 157mm.

There was also concern that downpours would be concentrated by winds of up to 50mph, but fears that speeds would reach the 90mph recorded at the heart of the storm in France were not realised.

Vanessa Robson, 53, from Beverleyin east Yorkshire, died after her Land Rover Freelander was wedged between tree stumps and other debris beneath Muffles Bridge, which carries a remote farm road across Hartoft Beck on the edge of the North York Moors national park.

The Environment Agency warned of the unexpected strength, as well as speed of flow, of small rivers swollen by floodwater. A spokesman, David Bedlington, said: "Even a few inches of flowing water can knock people off their feet."